Each year since 2007, students from Kuji, Japan have traveled more than 6,000 miles to see what life is like in Franklin.
Until now, that tradition has been mostly one-sided. Students from Franklin Community Schools have only visited the Land of the Rising Sun once, in 2015. Barring any unexpected financial difficulties, a group of Franklin students will board a plane to Japan next fall to spend time in Kuji.
To fund the trip, Franklin schools is in the process of securing contributions from local businesses. Several of those local businesses, such as NSK Manufacturing and Mitsubishi, are headquartered in Japan. Anything not covered by donations and school funds would need to be covered by the families of the students who go. The total cost of the trip is expected to be about $3,000 per student, said Tina Gross, chief financial officer at Franklin schools.
About 10 Franklin students would travel to Japan for a week-long trip, where they will live with host families, Superintendent David Clendening said.
Those students, from both the middle and high schools, will be selected based on a variety of factors, including whether they are in a foreign language class, and will go through an extensive application process, he said. School administrators will interview students to determine who will best represent the school district.
Greg Moore, a member of Franklin Mayor Steve Barnett’s committee for the Kuji sister city relationship, will go on the trip with his wife, Tamayo, who will serve as a translator. Representatives from Kuji have also invited Barnett and Greenwood Mayor Mike Myers to attend, Clendening said.
When Kuji students visit Franklin from Jan. 8 to 11, they will have a similar schedule as they do each year. While in Franklin, the students will visit the mayor’s office, an elementary school or Custer Baker Intermediate School, and Franklin middle and high schools. Other activities will include a welcome reception.
Seeing the impact the trip has on Japanese students made it an easy decision to try and reciprocate by sending Franklin students to Kuji, Clendening said.
“I think the importance of going to another country is three-fold,” Clendening said. “It allows kids to interact with peers they’d never interact with, to understand the cultures we come from and are going to. The kids live in different places all over the world; there are differences and similarities. It provides a view of the world they wouldn’t get through a textbook. They can be there and experience the journey of students similar to (themselves).”
Although complete details of the trip haven’t been finalized, the Franklin students will spend some of their week-long visit in Tokyo, a major metropolitan city, just as Kuji students tour New York City after they visit Franklin. The September visit to Japan would coincide with Kuji’s autumn festival and the 60th anniversary of Franklin and Kuji’s sister city partnership, Clendening said.
Barnett will fly to Japan with hopes of continuing to strengthen business ties between the two cities, he said.
“We’ve got more Japanese companies in Johnson County than anybody,” Barnett said. “Obviously, the nine businesses in Franklin that have invested money here create jobs. It’s an economic development tool and we want to maintain those. When they choose to expand, we want to make sure the expansion is here.”
Hosting Kuji students has been beneficial for both the Japanese students and the city of Franklin. Barnett hopes that same kind of relationship can develop with Franklin students in Japan, he said.
“When the Kuji kids come here, they stay with chaperone families, and when they leave, the kids have bonded with our culture. I see tears and I’ve heard stories that they communicate for years afterwards. They write letters back and forth and stay in touch. Some of the Japanese students want to live here and be in our culture.”
